School vote fails by 113 votes, not three

Wednesday

Jan 20, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 20, 2010 at 8:16 PM

By 1 p.m. Tuesday, more than 24 percent of the town’s 8,783 registered voters had cast their ballots in the special state senatorial election and the school building project. By the end of the day, more than 50 percent had voted.

Bobbi Sistrunk

By 1 p.m. Tuesday, more than 24 percent of the town’s 8,783 registered voters had cast their ballots in the special state senatorial election and the school building project. By the end of the day, more than 50 percent had voted. There was a 56-percent voter participation for the Senate race and a 51-percent participation for the school ballot question vote.

Curiously, 5 percent of the voters chose not to cast a ballot for the school project after picking their senatorial favorite. But that was just one interesting occurrence Tuesday. The turnout was so overwhelming that there was a shortage of ballots, forcing some voters to wait until more could be printed. This resulted in many of the ballots for the school building project schematic design funding having to be hand counted.

“We have never had this amount come out to vote, and with budget cuts, we wanted to stay in line with what we thought we needed,” Town Clerk Jean McGillicuddy said. “It was quite an experience.”

The results of the Senate race were immediately available. State Sen. Scott Brown prevailed in a total of 3,222 to 1,610 votes.

In the local ballot question vote, there were addition errors and a slip of the tongue that gave the proponents of the school building project a brief moment of elation before their hopes were dashed.

In articulating the total numbers, McGillicuddy mistakenly announced that the “yes” votes for funding the schematic design phase of the project prevailed before Assistant Town Clerk Liz Nichols corrected her and said the “no” votes had actually prevailed.

There was simultaneous thrill then disbelief from those waiting for the announcement. The totals announced at the time were 2,182 “yes” votes and 2,185 “no” votes, a difference of just three votes defeating the question. There was immediate talk of a recount.

School committee members and other proponents of the project declined to comment as they quickly left the building.

Lead opponent Paul Johnson said he was not surprised that the question failed a second time.

“We won fair and square, twice.” Johnson said. “Enough is enough. The people of the town of Carver have spoken.”

He said the school project could have been approved to go forward had the proponents chosen originally to use available funds for the schematic design phase rather than seeking a debt exclusion.

“The onus is on them,” he said. “This revote put the people of Carver through an unnecessary process.”

After the crowd left the Carver High School gymnasium, McGillicuddy said, a further mistake was identified. The actual totals for the ballot question vote were incorrect. She said the official tally ended up with 2,180 “yes” votes and 2,293 “no” votes, a difference of 113.

“There was an addition error,” McGillicuddy later said. “The grand totals tally we announced was unofficial, then we tallied again and the actual total number changed. Every vote was accounted for. It was just an addition error. We can account for every vote.”

McGillicuddy said the state supplied the Senate ballots. Her office orders the local election ballots. History election figures were used in calculating the amount needed when ordering them. She said as far as she knows, all registered voters seeking to cast ballots did so.

“We never expected a turnout like this,” she said, “but we did get extras to voters right away. Everyone I talked to was very patient and waited and then proceeded on.”

She explained that original ballots are embedded with a chip that allows the computerized counting system to work. The extra ballots were copies and thus did not contain the necessary chip, which led to the need for a hand count

McGillicuddy said she is very sorry for any mix-ups that occurred and stressed that they were purely unintentional.

“I understand why they are mad,” she said. “It was purely unintentional. It was human error, and I did apologize. The bottom line is we have it all, and it is what it is. If they decide to have a recount, we are here for them.”

In order to go forward with a recount, 10 registered voters from each of the town’s three precincts would have to sign a petition and be verified.

“I was hoping for a 30-percent voter turnout,” McGillicuddy said. “I’m impressed. I’m really excited that many people came out. It was wonderful, unexpected, but certainly welcomed.”

“Because the results were so close; closer than one-tenth of 1 percent, and because there was so much confusion when the results were announced, I think a recount is most proper and essential,” Citizens for Carver Schools Chairman Cally Minahan said.

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